SC Freiburg did not carry the momentum from the Europa League into the Bundesliga and has to wait for its dry spell to end. Three days after the furious comeback win against RC Lens, coach Christian Streich’s team lost 1:2 (1:0) at FC Augsburg and remained without a win in the league for the fifth time in a row.
“We missed a lot of points on Thursday, that took a lot of energy,” said goalscorer Vincenzo Grifo on “DAZN”: “We could have taken big points here, but I think Augsburg deserved it to some extent .”
Grifo (19th, penalty kick) initially gave Freiburg the lead. But Felix Uduokhai (72nd) and Arne Engels (81st) turned the game around for FCA, who ended their own negative streak of four games without a win and extended their lead over the relegation zone to nine points.
At Freiburg, captain Christian Günter was able to start again for the first time in six months after breaking his arm twice. However, after the European Cup high, he and his teammates were almost caught off guard.
Augsburg started the game with a lot of pace and had the chance to take the lead after just three minutes – but after a nice move Iago only hit the post. It seemed to be a wake-up call for Freiburg.
Although Augsburg was still the more active team, the first goal still belonged to SC. Fredrik Jensen was too impetuous in a duel with Grifo in the penalty area, who confidently converted the penalty.
This changed little in terms of the proportions of the game – on the contrary. Augsburg remained courageous and aggressive, but mostly acted too imprecisely, especially on offense, and so missed the opportunity to get the equalizer they deserved before the break.
The second half didn’t bring any changes either. Freiburg was barely able to free itself from FCA’s grip and initially only benefited from Augsburg’s poor finishing and goalkeeper Noah Atubolu. When Uduokhai equalized, the 21-year-old was powerless.